Mistakenly released prisoner Billy Smith turns himself in
A fraudster mistakenly released from prison this week has handed himself back in as a hunt continues for a convicted sex offender who was also accidentally freed.While David Lammy, the justice secretary, insisted the government would clampdown on clerical errors, William Smith was filmed waving to cameras and hugging his partner before he walked back into HMP Wandsworth, in south-west London.Smith, 35, usually known as Billy, had been sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon crown court on Monday, but was then released in error by the prison.A clerical mistake by the court led to the prison being told it was a suspended sentence, which meant he no longer had to be detained.The court corrected the error but HMP Wandsworth was not informed.
An Algerian sex offender, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, who was released from Wandsworth by mistake last week, remains at large.The Met police, who are hunting him, were only told about his release on Tuesday and have expressed frustration over his “six-day head start”.The accidental release of the two men intensified pressure upon Lammy, who last week had announced a checklist to ensure prisoners were not freed in error after the release of Hadush Kebatu on 24 October.Prison governors were called to a meeting with Lammy in Leicestershire on Thursday.Speaking afterwards, the lord chancellor told reporters that the accidental release of Kaddour-Cherif happened before the new checklist was in place.
“We have found out that the release that has caused concern this week was actually before I introduced those checks just a few weeks ago following the release of Kebatu.And the other prisoner was a court mistake not, in fact, a prison mistake.“But the truth is I’ve been in post two months – the rate of release by error is too high,” he said.The “paper-based” system which is used to process criminals at prisons, courts and in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will be overhauled, he said.“We had 800 errors under the last government, this has now gone on for a generation.
Our prison system is in crisis so we have to bear down on this but we have a mountain to climb,” he said.Lammy has faced scrutiny over his handling of the mistaken release of Kaddour-Cherif after he refused to answer questions put to him on the issue in the House of Commons on Wednesday.Parliament had not been misled, he insisted.“I took the judgment that it is important when updating the house and the country about serious matters like this that you have all of the detail,” he said.A senior Labour MP said the government “has to take responsibility” for the wrongly released prisoners’ crisis.
Andy Slaughter, the chair of the Commons justice committee, told Sky News that the prisons’ system was “chaotic” and suffered from inadequate staffing and lack of modern technology.Asked who was to blame for the current situation, he told Sky News: “The government has to take responsibility, the Labour government going forward.I think if you’re looking at how we’ve got here, you’re talking about years if not decades.And it’s not one issue, it’s an accumulation of issues.”The number of prisoners released by mistake has more than doubled in one year, official figures show.
In the year to March, 262 were freed in error, compared with 115 the previous year, according to data from the MoJ.Prison sources say the overcrowding crisis was partly to blame for the sharp increase in “releases in error” – the official description for the mistakes.Before the meeting, the Prison Governors’ Association described releases in error as “neither rare nor hidden”, but said the scale of them was “deeply concerning”.In a statement, the PGA insisted only 0.5% of prisoners were not released on the correct date, but added: “While that may appear to be a small percentage, in a system managing tens of thousands of releases and transfers each quarter, it does represent a significant operational failure.
”The Metropolitan police has meanwhile continued to appeal to the public over the whereabouts of Kaddour-Cherif, who the force believes is still in London just over a week after his release,“We are actively searching for Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, who was released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday 29 October,He is believed to be in London and has links to Tower Hamlets and Westminster,If you see him, please call 999 immediately,” the Met said,Kabatu was wrongly released from Chelmsford prison and attempted to walk back into prison at least four times.
He was eventually apprehended in Finsbury Park, north London, and given money as he was deported to Ethiopia.
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland dies at age of 24
The Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland has died at the age of 24, the team announced on Thursday.“It is with extreme sadness that the Dallas Cowboys share that Marshawn Kneeland tragically passed away this morning. Marshawn was a beloved teammate and member of our organization. Our thoughts and prayers regarding Marshawn are with his girlfriend Catalina and his family,” the team said in a statement.According to the Frisco police department, Kneeland appeared to have taken his own life after a late-night vehicle pursuit and multi-agency search
Ntamack and France aim to rid themselves of ‘trauma’ from World Cup defeat
Fly-half was not involved in heartbreaking quarter-final loss two years ago but is optimistic Les Bleus can exact revenge against South Africa – even without Antoine DupontRomain Ntamack was not on the pitch when Les Bleus last met South Africa just over two years ago, having been denied a starring role at the home World Cup by a knee ligament injury the previous summer. The Toulouse fly-half was nevertheless as affected as anyone by the one-point quarter-final defeat by the Springboks, which brought France’s ambitions to an abrupt and sobering end.“The trauma from that match went beyond the 23 players who were on the team sheet,” the 26-year-old said before this weekend’s rematch, which kicks off the autumn campaign for both sides. “We’ve moved on since then, though, and we’re fully focused on Saturday’s match.”After an underwhelming summer campaign in New Zealand that yielded three defeats in as many tests, France also have a more immediate point to prove
India beat Australia by 48 runs in fourth men’s Twenty20 international – as it happened
That’s all from me this evening as India’s depth continues to shine through especially as Australia’s lineup is weakened by the departure of several first-choice players to pre-Test duties. We’ll be back on Saturday for the fifth and final T20 as Australia chase a victory in Brisbane to level the series.But, for now, here is the full report from India’s 48-run win on the Gold Coast.Australia can still level the series in the fifth and final T20 on Saturday but Mitch Marsh can’t hide his disappointment at letting this game slip.We thought [India’s] 167 was par
‘What is rugby?’: New film Brothers on Three documents the game at West Point
With unprecedented access to one of the top US college programs, director Sean Mullin uncovers raw stories of love and lossAt the United States Military Academy at West Point, rugby has the best winning record of any men’s sports program. Brothers on Three, a new documentary about the team out this week, begins with scenes of wild joy from Houston, Texas in 2022, when the Black Knights beat St Mary’s, from California, to win their first US college title.And yet director Sean Mullin’s film is shot through with loss.There are losses, of course, on the field.Mullin and writer-producer Brian Anthony are West Point grads, rugby players too
WTA Finals tennis: Anisimova sends Swiatek out; Rybakina beats Alexandrova – as it happened
Amanda Anisimova fought past Iga Swiatek 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2 in a winner-takes-all match at the WTA Finals on Wednesday to join Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals and stay in the hunt for a first crown on her debut in the season-ending championship.The stage was set for the highly-anticipated clash between the pair after Swiatek routed Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 to lift her maiden Wimbledon crown in July, before the American gained revenge in the US Open quarter-finals in September.Following a fierce start to their latest meeting and 12 straight holds of serve, Poland’s Swiatek raised her level to seize control of the first set in the tiebreak, clinching it when Anisimova struck a forehand long.The war of attrition continued in the second set, before Anisimova ramped up the intensity on her forehand and earned the first break of the match in the 10th game to force a decider at the King Saud University Sports Arena.With confidence flowing, Anisimova carved out another break to surge 3-1 ahead in the third set and shift the pressure onto world No 2 Swiatek, and the resilient 24-year-old stayed firm from there and completed her comeback victory
McIlroy thanks PGA chief for Ryder Cup apology and questions LIV changes
Rory McIlroy says the PGA of America chief executive, Derek Sprague, apologized personally for the abuse directed at the world No 2 and his wife during Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph at Bethpage Black, and that the gesture helped to close the book on what had been a bruising week.“I got a lovely email from Derek Sprague apologizing,” McIlroy told BBC Sport ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. “Erica worked with Derek at the PGA of America back in the day, so we know Derek and his wife pretty well. He couldn’t have been more gracious or apologetic and he wrote us a lovely letter, which we really appreciated.”A beer hurled from the stands struck Erica’s hat during the fiery three-day contest, in which McIlroy became a lightning rod for a raucous home crowd
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